Evolution
by anyadoll
Summary: He woke with a feeling of peace, followed by foreboding, and knew today would not be a good day. And he was right.
1. Regret

**A/N:** So this is now my second foray into Perception. I literally itched all day at work once I got this idea in my head, though I have no idea if it will be a standalone or a multi chapter, so we'll see. For anyone who's questioning the Castle reference, it's the _Jack Shot Jill Over Bill_ line, from season one, pilot episode if I'm right. I know nothing about legal terms or hospital information; just go with me on this. Also, I am taking liberty with drugs here, as I know nothing about them either, I'm totally making one up, so don't expect facts. (side note: the stuff about power of attorney is legit) Lyrics are "Happiness" by The Fray.

**Evolution**

_Happiness damn near destroys you _

_Breaks your faith to pieces on the floor _

_So you tell yourself, that's enough for now _

_Happiness has a violent roar_

Daniel Pierce woke up that morning with a strange sense of peace, and even larger sense of foreboding. It was the kind of instinct he hadn't remembered having since the day the doctor told him he was a schizophrenic, and his world spiraled recklessly out of control. Today was going to be one of those days, and he couldn't help the chill he felt at that thought.

He tried to shove the unease into the back of his troubled mind, went about his morning routine, ate his grapefruit with lime and did his crossword puzzle, listened to Mozart as he walked to class to calm himself down.

The lecture went as planned, no blips in his radar, no hallucinations popping by to say hello at inopportune times. The only interruption in his day was Kate sliding into a desk at the top of his classroom halfway through his twelve o'clock speech, pulling out a notebook and pen with a cheeky grin and began taking notes as if she was in school again.

This truly wasn't even an interruption. She'd been doing that more often lately, at random intervals throughout the days or the week. She'd simply take a seat and quietly observe. Kate had always loved his lectures, a fact that went without saying, but she loved having something to talk about with him between cases even more. The brain was always evolving; science was always learning something new, and far be it from him to stop her from learning.

Often times on these occasions, she'd linger until all the students had left before offering tea and a walk through the quad while they discussed the class she caught. She would raptly listen to the numerous nicknames coined by Daniel for his students, and what they'd done to impress or irk him; he would hear of the cases she was working, and which might need his expert opinion.

They'd grown closer since he'd been released from Rexford this last time, despite his rocky relationship with Caroline for the following months, and regardless of the fact that they'd ended it on a sour note. She wasn't the woman he'd hoped she was. For so long he'd built up an image in his mind, and that image had fallen apart at the seams the moment he was off his meds. She couldn't handle him any other way but fixed, and Kate took him as broken as he was.

They rounded the quad a fourth time, each caught up in the other's story, sipping hot tea with no milk or sugar, and a latte chock full of espresso she gulped with a blissful look on her face he couldn't help staring at.

"You look happy," he said out of nowhere. She glanced over, startled not by his words, but by the way he said them. There was something oddly warm, endearing about the statement; it hadn't been a question, she realized, but a delighted observation.

"I am," she replied honestly. Come to think of it, she felt outright peaceful, a sensation she'd never experienced. "I'm always happy talking to you. You keep me sane," she said with a bright twinkle in her eye and a nudge to his elbow.

"That's right, mock the crazy man," he answered sarcastically, tossing his empty cup into a nearby trash bin. "It's nice, seeing you in my class. Reminds me of when you were actually in it. You're probably one of the few student's names I intentionally learned," Daniel said practically, as if stating a well-known fact.

"Really? I figured I had a nickname buried somewhere on your old roster that you didn't want to ever say to my face. Something like, That Annoying Girl That Always Sat In The Front And Constantly Raised Her Hand," she laughed.

"Oh, no, definitely not," he said seriously. "You cared too much to deserve a nickname."

"Well," Kate said softly, stopping short. "I'm honored then, that you made an effort to learn my name." She smiled, concluding this was probably the most personal Daniel had ever been with her, a conversation where she gained information about herself from his perspective.

"Don't let it go to your head or anything," Daniel said gruffly, and she laughed a little more. He liked the sound, more than ever, he thought idly. She was lighter lately, and he'd chalked it up to her divorce being finalized, and possibly his break up with Catherine, which he'd confessed too in one of their chats. She claimed she figured as much, that he couldn't pass up the chance to be with Natalie, in any form. He took in a breath as they crossed back towards his classroom, and reached out to grasp her elbow, holding her back on the sidewalk milling with students. "Did you…maybe want to, I don't know, have dinner, together…tonight?" he stumbled his way through it, but it was finally out there, the question that nagged and sounded impishly like Natalie.

She froze, eyes wide and questioning. "Really?" she asked surprised, before realizing how that sounded, and bounced back before Daniel could look hurt. "Yes, of course, I'd love too."

"Great, maybe seven?" asked Daniel, the nerves overtaking him.

"I'd like that," she said brightly and slid her hand down to squeeze his fingers gently. He looked at her a moment, and she wondered what he saw there. What she saw was a fundamentally different man, taking a leap he never would have taken before, and maybe dating Catherine had helped him with that particular fear.

They were jarred from their moment when a biker sped past them, dodging into Kate before straightening out.

"Hey! Watch it! Get off the sidewalk!" Daniel shouted, turning back to Kate. The smile had fallen from her face, and something else entirely replaced it. She was still, and he grasped her shoulders to get her too look at him. "Are you okay?" he whispered shakily.

She shook her head slowly before meeting his eyes. Her breath was coming more labored. "Daniel, something's…something's wrong…" she managed before she collapsed forward, falling limp in his arms.

Students froze around them, and Daniel desperately checked for a pulse. "Call an ambulance, now!" he barked out, cradling her body to his.

Two students from his class ran off to find Max and Dean Haley, while more than a dozen passing by whipped out cell phones and dialed 911 with a frenzy. One girl he knew and referred to as Know It All, stooped down, gently touching Daniel's shoulder and pointed silently to Kate's arm. He turned her arm, startled to find a broken off needle protruding from the upper bicep. Know It All pulled a pair of gloves and a sandwich bag out of her purse, explaining to Daniel she was pre med and had a lab in twenty minutes. She deftly pulled the needle out, dropping it into the sandwich bag as sirens wailed in the distance. He took the bag from her with a grim smile.

He'd have to add Know It All to the list of names he should learn.

Max, followed shortly by Dean Haley, came up behind him, Dean Haley demanding to know what happened, and Max concerned for Daniel. He wasn't able to defer to either of them as the paramedics rolled to halt, bursting from the ambulance with a stretcher and kits and a myriad of supplies that blurred together. They spoke to him, and their faces and voices swirled, overwhelming him with stimulation until Max was yelling at them, and Daniel was yelling in general. He wanted his music, his puzzles, and Kate. Max tugged on Daniel's arms, trying to pry them open so the paramedics could get to Kate, assess what happened, and he was having none of it.

"He's her partner, he won't let her go, so you may as well take him with you," he heard Max say in the distance.

"Dr. Pierce is an esteemed professor at our university, I assure you he won't cause trouble as long as he goes with the agent," Dean Haley threw in quickly.

The paramedics seemed to relent, knowing they wouldn't get anywhere trying to dissuade the man clutching their patient. Once he knew he was going with them, he relinquished his iron grip, allowing them to move her to the stretcher before firmly grasping her hand again. He had to have the contact to know she was still alive, still with him.

"I'll meet you at the hospital Doc," Lewicki called, dashing back into the university.

Daniel barely nodded, jumping up into the ambulance with the paramedics.

The ride to the hospital had never taken so long.

XOX

Of course, being in a hospital was no better.

It brought back so many memories, all the whirring machines and buzzing doctors, patients coughing in the hallways and the smells of soap and disinfectant. He hated it all, and he remained for Kate.

The perks of being a well-known neuroscientist with the PHD to prove it afforded him certain access that the average person could not get. Most knew _of_ him at the very least, and his being there wouldn't be a hindrance.

The FBI was quickly notified, certainly by Max or Dean Haley, and within a half hour they'd sent Probert to take his statement. At least Reardon knew better than to send the cavalry to interview him. Probert he knew, and would talk too. And he had to admit, concern was present on the younger man's face.

Nearly forgetting the most crucial piece of evidence, he procured the broken needle from his pocket, handing it over. Probert nodded, finished collecting what he needed, and left.

Daniel dropped into the awful plastic chair with a heavy sigh. Finding the rogue biker would be impossible; no one saw anything, suspected anything. Hell, they couldn't even prove it was the biker. The thought made his stomach turn.

He leaned back uncomfortably, closing his eyes against the day, and tried desperately to think of anything other than what happened to Kate. The doctors told him they'd give word when she was stabilized, or they had a diagnosis.

He'd called her father from her phone, letting him know the situation. The man tried to sound firm and together, but Daniel could hear the pain and knew that Mr. Moretti probably wouldn't be coming to the hospital that night. He worked in a bar after all, and Daniel knew the vices of people in pain. Daniel assured him he wouldn't be leaving the hospital anytime soon, and he'd update him immediately. He could hear the sigh of relief on the other end of the phone, and ended the conversation shortly after.

It was more than two hours later that a warm hand shook him. "Dr. Pierce?" came a slightly chirpy voice. "You're Dr. Pierce, right, here for Kate Moretti?"

"Yes!" he nearly shouted, leaping up from the chair. It was a horrible idea, he realized, wincing at the pinch in his back.

"She's stable, for now. We can't be sure what the toxin is though. It's going to be touch and go until we figure that out, but you can see her if you'd like."

"Yes, please," he answered quietly. The doctor led him down the hallway, stopping at room 104. She gave him a small nod and left.

She seemed small from his vantage point, pale and somehow tired. An IV dripped and the EKG hummed a constant 'pip' as her heart beat.

"I'll only do hospitals for you," he whispered, resting his hand on top of hers. "They don't know what it is. Go figure, right?"

"You'd think with all this technology they could figure out where a simple drug came from, and what it actually is," a familiar voice echoed behind him. He whipped around, eyes going wide.

"Kate?" he demanded, looking back at the woman in front of him, and the one behind. One was utterly different from the other. The Kate speaking to him was dressed in an awkward baby blue tee shirt with some graphic art splashed across the front, and what was the late 90s version of over embellished flare jeans. Even her hair was in some silly flipped hairstyle he couldn't even recall her wearing.

"Not so much, but sort of," the hallucination responded cheekily. It definitely sounded like her. She looked much younger though, like when she was a freshman in his class.

"Why are you here? Usually it's always someone not associated with my problems or puzzles," Daniel asked, bewildered.

"Because it's different this time," Freshman Kate began.

"Different how? Why you, why not Natalie?"

"Natalie is going to be taking a back seat to this show, Professor. She's your subconscious, and me, I'm your conscious."

"That doesn't make any sense! I _am_ conscious, so how am I speaking to my conscious?"

"How does it make any more sense talking to your subconscious creation than it does me?" Freshman Kate questioned back.

He gaped for a moment, utterly confused.

"So we're going to have to take this slowly," she sighed. "Something happened today. Your subconscious, Natalie, has always acknowledged your interest in Kate, while your conscious always acknowledged that Kate likes you. Today that changed; you finally let yourself consciously realize your feelings for her, thus forcing me to be your new confidant. In reality we call that progress, or making a move," Freshman Kate said sarcastically.

"Thank God real Kate isn't this annoying," he grumbled.

"Hey, I'm _your_ hallucination, don't blame this on her."

"So _I'm_ the annoying one?" Daniel demanded, gritting his teeth.

"Pot meet Kettle," she said snarkily.

He huffed, exhausted. He much preferred the soft dulcet voice of Natalie Vincent than this rather impractical version of Kate he'd created.

"Why the freshman version of you?" he asked warily.

"You liked me then, and you like me now. I'm the version you were more comfortable with, the untouchable, unreachable student. I was easier to deal with than the present version," she answered with far less sass. And she was, kicking her Converse covered feet back and forth as she sat on the bed opposite them.

"You have a good point," he mumbled. It was one thing to like a student; you could call it friendship, like minds, shared interest. But the fact remained that you couldn't have a relationship with a student. He could now, and it scared him.

He glanced up, but Freshman Kate was gone. Only then did he hear the sudden commotion outside the room.

Daniel moved to the doorway, straining to listen. He didn't have to try so hard; the patron at the desk was practically screaming at the poor nurse.

"What do you mean I can't see her! I'm her husband, at least for another few days, so I have every right to see my wife! I'm a DA for God's sake!" Donnie called.

Daniel shook his head. Here to see Kate, and he still felt the urge to flaunt his job title.

"Sir, I cannot let you in, regardless of your relationship or lack thereof," the nurse said tartly, voice rising exponentially. "You are not her next of kin."

"But who is? Check her power of attorney, I know I'm still _that_ at the very least," he tried again.

She shuffled papers aside. "No, you're not that either," she answered flatly.

"But, but how? She said she wasn't going to change it," he said more to himself.

The nurse caved a little, feeling for the poor soon to be divorced man who'd gotten quite the surprise. "She changed her type of power of attorney about ten months ago it looks like."

"Type?" Donnie asked skeptically.

"Yes, it's Durable Power of Attorney now."

"Why would she do that?"

The nurse shrugged, non-committal. "It means she left power of attorney to someone who may have a mental illness or be incapacitated in some manner. If something happens to her, essentially that person's say can't be overridden by law regardless of their state of mind," she answered him. Daniel froze in the doorway, turning to face the woman lying quietly in the bed. "You didn't Kate," he whispered, more to himself. Ten months ago would have meant he was still in Rexford. It wasn't something they'd ever discussed; she'd gone and changed it beneath all of their noses without anyone's consent. When she woke, he'd have to question _her_ sanity.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me! _Him_!" Donnie yelled, noticing Daniel lingering for the first time. Daniel could see the barely contained rage pouring off Donnie in waves, and wasn't frankly surprised when, before he could blink, the DA was punching him in the jaw.

Daniel saw stars, leaning heavily against the wall clutching the side of his face. He heard the nurse yelling for security, and suddenly he couldn't stand up fast enough. He managed his way to the desk, wobbly but able, and put his hand on the phone she picked up. "Don't," he said weakly. "Let him have this."

The nurse looked angrily at Donnie, but conceded to Daniel's wish. Donnie seemed stunned himself, all the fight gone, replaced with bitter sadness. He walked into Kate's room and closed the door behind him.

"It is me, isn't it?" Daniel asked quietly. "Her power of attorney."

"You are Dr. Daniel Pierce, correct?" He nodded. "Then it's you," she confirmed. She leaned forward conspiratorially. "I'm a big fan, you know. You're books are so inspiring, and the brain is fascinating."

He glanced down at her nametag. "Look, Pamela, I was wondering if you've heard of a nameless drug making people drop like flies in moments. I'd love to have new information to analyze, see how it affects the brain."

He tried to be slick, like when Kate interrogated people, appealing to a shared goal.

She smiled, looking around before leaning in a little more. "Other than the standard ones? We've had six patients come in in the same condition as your girl. The doctors think it's gotta be a new street drug, something mean."

"Why new?" he asked.

"Well, it's been putting the patients into prolonged coma's, followed by…" Pamela trailed off. "Look, the doctor's around here have been calling it 'Darwin,'" she said with an eyeroll.

"Odd drug name," he commented.

"Thing is," she began, "All the patients dosed had some sort of disease or medical issue. The doctor's think we've got an angel of death drug dealer out there," Pamela said grimly.

Daniels heart seemed to stop at the new information, brow knit in confusion. "It wasn't meant for her," he muttered.

"What's that?"

Daniel looked up with a forced smile. "Nothing, thank you, Pamela, so much for the information. Glad you enjoy the books." Before he could escape, she procured one of them from her bag.

"Could you sign it?" Pamela questioned shyly. After the information she'd given him, he would have read from it personally.

He nodded, penning in his name. _It was meant for me_, rattled around his head as he did so.

He pushed open the door to Kate's room, letting Donnie know the time he'd given him was quickly running out. Donnie remained slumped in his chair; Daniel took the one across.

"I think I knew a long time ago," Donnie spoke distantly. "You managed to come up in almost every conversation, and at first I dismissed it as a leftover crush from college. Professors can be a gravitational pull of their own, I know that much. But the years went by and it was like you were everywhere. We fought about it, all the time. The whole reason I think I ended up cheating on her in the first place is because she was so captivated by you," he looked up then, meeting Daniel's gaze. "You don't actually have to be with a person to cheat on them."

Donnie laughed, but it was humorless. "We separated, and she practically flew back to you, needing your expertise to consult on cases; bunch of bull shit, she never needed your help. I was surprised when she went to DC, even less surprised when she got demoted and once again, went back to you. Like I said before, either acknowledge this thing for what it is, or let her go. She deserves more than to be led on for another decade."

Daniel leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. "I asked her out for dinner, before this happened." He wasn't sure what made him forfeit that piece of information; maybe he owed him in some cosmic way for all the pain he'd inadvertently caused.

Donnie nodded, standing up from the chair. "Thanks, for letting me see her. I'm not sorry for hitting you though, you deserved that," he said before leaving the room.

"At least he's honest," Freshman Kate said.

"Yeah, _now_," Daniel conceded. Then he changed the topic. "That drug, that was meant for me."

"I figured as much," Freshman Kate agreed. "But why isn't she in a coma then? Sure, she's asleep, bogged down with other drugs, but the patients before her went into coma's almost instantly."

Daniel perked up. "She's healthy."

"Clearly," Freshman Kate mocked, nodding towards her doppelganger.

"But all the other patients had something wrong with them, me included. This angel of death dealer is going after already damaged people! Kate was a mistake, someone probably knocked him off his course, I mean, the needle was broken off in her left arm, I was right across from her, he was probably aiming for my right shoulder!"

"That's all great theory, but you can't prove it, the doctor's can't prove it, and the police have nothing to go on."

"Thanks, you're so helpful," Daniel said witheringly.

"I'm your _conscious_," Freshman Kate stressed.

"Then give me Natalie, you two are the only hallucinations I've had and I could really use some help here!"

She made a noise in the back of her throat. "You don't get Natalie, but you do get-"

"Hey Doc, thought you'd be needing this. How is she?" Lewicki asked, coming in the door at that moment with a duffel full of clothes, books, puzzles, and his much needed music.

"She's stable, so they say. I think the drug was meant for me," he said with wave of his hand.

"Doc, are you sure you're okay? I know this happened in front of you, are you decompensating?"

"No, no, I literally think this was meant for me," Daniel explained. "I talked to the nurse, she said they've had six other patients come in with a mysterious drug in their system, and all six patients have underlying diseases or diagnosis that's been exacerbated by the drug so much so that they went into prolonged coma's and…" he hesitated, knowing that the nurse didn't want to frighten him. "Died."

Lewicki looked stricken. "Kate's not in a…"

"No, she's not," Daniel said. "Because Kate is healthy."

"So…this drug is what? Targeting sick people?" Lewicki questioned.

Daniel nodded. "I don't know how, honestly. The nurse said they're calling the drug something ridiculous like Darwin, that there's some angel of death out there using sick people as lab rats for a modified drug."

"Survival of the fittest," Lewicki stated. "But how do you modify a drug to only attack sick people?"

Daniel shook his head. "I don't think you do."

Lewicki looked at his watch. "Did you want me to stay? And what did you want to do about your classes?"

Daniel took Kate's limp hand once more. "You're training to be a teacher. So teach. I won't be back until she is," he said without so much as a hint of sorrow for releasing the reins to his protégé. Lewicki had proved himself fully capable, and if Daniel could stay with Kate, he would."

Lewicki smiled weakly. "If you're sure. I'll let Dean Haley know." Max clapped him on the back of the shoulder, quietly leaving the room. He was neither needed nor wanted; he'd be back with more puzzles for the Doc later. For now, the only puzzle he wanted was the one lying helpless before him.

XOX

Daniel awoke in the straight-backed armchair hours later with his hand in a brutal vise like grip. He blearily took in his surroundings, realizing it was Kate gripping his hand so hard. He thought maybe she'd woken and been afraid, but that wasn't the case.

Kate was seizing, violently.


	2. Obsession

**A/N:** Part 2, up and ready. I did some quick research on dependent personality disorder for this, so I got to learn something today. This chapter gets a little dark, so beware. The drug is still made up, so don't fault me for the lack of knowledge there. The lyrics are "Replace Me" by Andrew Belle.

**Evolution**

_Who says we're wrong for_

_Opening the wrong doors_

_Lock up, swallow the key_

_You'll never replace me_

_Cause we've all fallen for_

_Someone we're wrong for_

_Lock up, swallow the key_

_You'll never replace me_

One moment her hand was holding his in a death grip, and the next he was being pushed out of the room by the doctors that rushed in as her heart monitor beat erratically off the charts and her small body convulsed.

Fear coursed through him as it never had before, not even when his worst demons showed themselves, landing him in Rexford, both times; not even when Kate saw his condition for what it was; he knew he'd never been this absolutely terrified. She could die and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

All the words left unsaid between them flooded his mind with impossibilities; all his reasons for turning her down seemed flat now.

"Regret's a bitch," his hallucination Kate stated sardonically. Daniel kept his gaze on real Kate through the glass that separated them.

"It is," he answered back, breathless. He felt a hand fall over his shoulder.

"She'll be okay, just give it time. She's healthy, like you said," Natalie said comfortingly.

He turned to Freshman Kate, to thank her for allowing Natalie to come back to him, but was surprised to see it wasn't Freshman Kate anymore. This was a different version of her altogether.

It was the Kate of the present, and he couldn't help thinking how very sad she looked. Had she always looked that sad around him? Like she wanted to take all of his problems away? Maybe pushing her away all these years hadn't been the best of plans, but it had suited him, and he knew it was for the better. After awhile she would realize that being with him was a prison sentence; her world already centered around him too much. Eventually she'd resent him and her choice, and it would be far too late then.

"I'll never regret you," she said quietly. "You have to understand that much by now. I'm not the roadblock, Daniel, you are. I embraced who you are a long time ago, so why can't you trust me?" Present Kate insisted.

"I know," he replied. "I can't focus on that this moment. Right now, I just want you to be okay."

"Then get out and do something about it! You're not doing me any good mourning over your potential loss. You're not taking care of yourself, and that needs to be a priority too. You know I'll kick your ass if you let yourself go like this."

He nodded, returning his gaze to the Kate in the hospital room. "Where do I start?" he asked.

"At the beginning," she answered with a wink, disappearing before his eyes.

"Dr. Pierce," the doctor who'd originally showed him to Kate's room said carefully. "I'm afraid she's slipped into a coma. There's no telling how long it could last, but we have hope because she's healthy that she can come through this."

Natalie had disappeared with Kate, leaving Daniel on his own.

Well, not completely. The moment the doctor went back into the room, a figure caught his eye inside, leaning over Kate as the nurses bustled around. He blinked, hard. The figure was a faceless woman, long black hair, black robes, and of course, black angel wings. "What?" he said aloud. The figure looked up, face viciously blurred, and yet somehow he knew she was upset with him, almost angry. She pointed at Kate, shaking her head. "Are you the Angel of Death?" he asked cautiously, assuming his new hallucination could hear him. He could feel her smirk. Her hand hovered over Kate's heart, and he watched dizzily as the heart monitor's jagged line ratcheted up and down again. He cringed. She was doing this on purpose. "Don't!" he yelled to the angel, desperation coating his voice. "Please, stop!"

It was as if she was mocking him.

Despite being a healthy, fit, thirty-three year old, the same thing that was happening to the mentally ill patients was happening to her, just at slower rate. That meant, he realized, that the drug wasn't targeting a specific disease, but a specific group of people: those which this 'Angel of Death' deemed unfit to survive in the real world. It was a test, of sorts. But was it just that? He or she was going after the mentally ill, he knew, but what if Kate _had_ been a target for another purpose?

An idea struck him then, recalling what hallucination Kate said: _Start at the beginning._ He pulled out Kate's phone, having kept it to keep in contact with her father, and dialed Lewicki's number, pacing back and forth manically as he did.

"Doc, I'm just about to start your lecture, what's wrong?" Lewicki asked, knowing Daniel wouldn't call if something wasn't wrong.

"It's Kate, she's gone into a coma, like the others. But that's not entirely what I'm concerned about. Can you dig out my old rosters, I think I might know who's doing this, and why," Daniel rambled off quickly.

"Yeah, sure, but how far back?"

"Kate's freshman year of college. It started then, I know it," Daniel fidgeted madly with the button on his sweater; he hated having nothing to do with his hands. "There's something there I'm not seeing yet, something I should have figured out by now."

"It's okay Doc, I'll find what I can and bring it too the hospital," Lewicki said calmly, not wanting to further agitate Daniel's mental state.

"Don't bother, I'll come to you. Kate's right, I'm no good to her here. I'm calling her father after I get done with you, and I'm going to let him know what's happening. He should…he should be here," Daniel said firmly.

Lewicki chose not to comment on the fact that Kate hadn't been conscious for two days now; if the Doc needed to think she was there, physically and aware, then so be it. "I'm on it, I'll call a cab for you," Lewicki finished, ending the call.

The call to Joe Moretti went about as expected; telling a man his daughter was now in a coma was a lot different than saying she'd been dosed with a modified drug. Joe assured Daniel he'd be there shortly, and Daniel requested Pamela call him if he didn't.

It was time Joe Moretti got over his crippling fear of his daughter dying on the job.

XOX

After hanging up with Daniel, Max Lewicki canceled the lecture and assigned the students to read the eighth chapter in their textbooks for the evening. He grabbed his laptop, accessing the class and student data bank, going back fifteen years to when Kate was a freshman. He assumed the person behind the dosing had to be in the class, so he printed off the list of students that had been in Daniel's classes during that time. There were more than four hundred. He separated them by which class of Daniel's they'd taken.

He laid the lists out across the desk, trying to search for similarities between the classes. That's when he saw it.

Lewicki dashed back to the laptop, scrolling through other classes, matching names together with others until the pattern emerged. It took awhile, but there it was, plain as day.

The door opened slowly behind him. "Doc, Doc, I think I've got it, I think I know what's going on!" Lewicki called out, typing furiously.

He didn't see the blow coming until it was too late.

XOX

_Thirty minutes later…_

"Lewicki, do you have those rosters?" Daniel asked breathlessly, having run from the cab to the classroom. When he was met with silence, the same foreboding feeling from days earlier crept back over him. "Lewicki?" he tried again, caution coloring his voice.

He moved into the room, taking his surroundings in. Lewicki's laptop was propped open on the desk, and he could see papers scattered on the desk and floor. The chair was off kilter, as if someone had hurriedly jumped out of it. As he got closer, he realized a hand peeked out, and the hand belonged to a passed out Lewicki. "No, no, no, what is happening?" Daniel mumbled, shaking Lewicki. "Max, Max can you hear me? C'mon."

Lewicki grumbled incoherently, his hand instantly wrapping around the back of his head. "Doc? Is that you?"

"Who did this?" Daniel hissed.

Lewicki shook his head. "I don't know, last thing I remember doing was looking at class rosters and then…" he trailed off, stunned. "It's in the rosters, Doc, the names! There's a student that was in every one of your classes, it was like she was—"

"Stalking me?" Daniel finished. "Yeah, I surmounted that. Do you have any of the rosters here?"

Lewicki sat up slowly, still gripping his head. He shuffled some of the papers that lay strewn across the wood floor before finding the one he was looking for, the one she hadn't found. "Here, this one," he said, handing the paper to Daniel.

"C'mon, we need to go call Probert and Donnie and let them know what's going on," Daniel said urgently, trying to help Lewicki to his feet.

"Doc, wait, just a second. What is this girl doing? And why?" Lewicki asked faintly, still gathering his bearings from the blow to his head. Daniel sighed, as if in a hurry.

"She was in the freshman class with Kate, and they were a lot alike," he started, distant nostalgia present. "I think they might have even been friends, if I'm recalling right. At least, they always sat next to each other, and maybe that's why I remember her. She was quiet, but she knew the subject really well. Her papers were great; but then I realized they were looking similar to another students."

"Let me guess, Kate's?" Lewicki said bleakly. Daniel nodded.

"I monitored the situation of course, and I confirmed she was all but copying Kate's work. I addressed her after class one day. She flew into a rage, claimed her work was original and I was being ridiculous and there were other accusations thrown in," Daniel stated, not wanting to get into the details of what the 'other accusations' were. It wasn't like the girl had been far off.

XOX

"_Look, Miss…"_

"_Claire! Claire Sanders! I've been in two of your classes this past semester and you still don't know my name?"_

_He waved her off. "I won't have you copying another students work. If I don't start seeing original work, I will report you to the Dean."_

"_Yeah? Well I don't think the school board will take too kindly to you flirting with your student! I see how you look at her, professor. You meet with her after class all the time to 'discuss the brain,'" she held back a mirthless laugh. "Discussing the brain my ass!"_

"_That's enough Miss Sanders! Just rewrite the paper and have it on my desk by Monday, enough said."_

_She shook her head, wrath boiling in her eyes as she stormed out of the classroom._

XOX

Max waved a hand in front of his face. "Doc, you there?"

He'd referred to her as The Copycat after that. It became her moniker in his mind. She still showed up to every class, stewing in the back of the room. He'd never really given a thought to what had happened to her, if she'd passed or failed because of plagiarism in her college career.

"Yes, Lewicki?"

"I found her, on Wikipedia," Max said, clicking the keys of the laptop with fervor. "She ended up with a degree in pharmaceuticals, works for some national drug corporation and is in the process of 'creating new and advanced drugs for the mentally ill.'"

Daniel scrubbed his face briskly. This was a startling revelation, though he figured she had to have done something with a medical background. You didn't just create a drug out of thin air.

"She's local, it says right here," Lewicki said with renewed interest. "But Doc, do you really think the drug was meant for you, or for Kate? Seems to me like she had issues with both of you."

"Sure, but Kate's not the one that let her down." Daniel looked pensive, scenarios rapidly running through his head. Perhaps she wasn't as mentally stable as her profile indicated. If she was copying other students work and obsessively taking his classes, that leaned more towards a dependent personality disorder, at least a mild one. Though most with a dependent personality didn't go around killing people unless it was to appease the person they looked up too. She probably didn't even realize she had a condition herself. "Just…call the FBI."

Daniel glanced up, hearing the door swing open. He was met with the same dark angel, her shoulders slumped, still shaking her head. Lewicki carefully collected his cell phone, laptop, and bag, not noticing Daniel's far off stare. The angel pointed out the door, and he followed her extended finger.

He felt compelled, as with almost all of his hallucinations, to follow. He was out the door before Lewicki realized he was gone.

XOX

Joe Moretti did not do hospitals well. Especially where his daughter was concerned. He came from a legacy of cops, but the cops he came from had had sons to carry on the career. He was the first to have daughter in a long line of Moretti Son's, and he'd always hoped she'd do something better with her life, something peaceful, something that wouldn't cut her life short and allowed her to have a family.

He'd hoped when she went off to college she'd see all the wonderful possibilities; she was smart, brilliant; she could have been a lawyer, a doctor even. When Kate would come home gushing about what she'd learned in her neuroscience class, he held that hope high.

The day she said she was joining the FBI and she hoped he was proud the legacy would continue, his stomach bottomed out. He couldn't tell her no. That would only fuel the stubborn fire in her eyes. It was like she dared him to defy her wish.

He patted her on the back and wished her the best, praying he'd be long gone before his daughter ended up in a hospital. It was always a possibility, and he'd be loath to believe that. Time waited for no one.

All cops have a vice; his was drinking. Drink the nightmares away, he thought bitterly and often. Her vice was different though. It took him a long time to notice what it was that kept her going through the dark times. The professor she'd mooned over in college, the one she convinced to consult, the one that was a few cards short of a deck was her vice. Kate Moretti loved broken things, and Daniel Pierce was no exception. It was a vice as dangerous as his, but as in all things, telling her how bad of an idea he was would get her father nowhere.

Instead, he leaned back in the hospital chair, holding his daughter's hand, not blaming anyone but himself and hoping she'd get to see another day.

XOX

The angel appeared outside the door the moment he crossed the threshold, pointing down the long stretch of hallway. Daniel ran the length of it; the angel appeared again, pointing down the left corridor. The puzzle continued with every hallway.

The Angel of Death stopped once he reached the quad, pointing to the woman standing in the center of the square of grass and tables. It was dark, and without a moon in the sky it was pitch black, but he could make out exactly who it was.

She was nervous, he noticed, taking in her hands clasping and unclasping, the subtle, constant shift in her body. "Is she okay?" Claire asked.

"Who?" Daniel inquired suspiciously.

"Kate? Is she okay? I didn't mean to hurt her, it was supposed to be for you."

"Why was it for me?" he asked, approaching her carefully. She looked the same as she had in college; limp black hair, pale, verging on mousy. Her features were average at best, though effort was clearly put in to make herself seem more distinguished.

"She was my best friend, and you ruined that! I would have done anything for her! You ruined her mind, you put thoughts in her head, that I was copying her, and she didn't like it! It's all your fault!" She yelled bitterly.

Daniel cringed. Definitely a Dependent Personality Disorder. "Why the other six patients? What did they do to you, or to Kate?"

Claire laughed humorlessly. "Nothing. I just had to test my drug. You know how that is professor, being a guinea pig, don't you? Being a schizophrenic and all. I don't understand what she sees in you? I mean, you're crazy! Why would she choose you over me!"

Clearly the situation was escalating.

"I don't know, Claire, but you put Kate in a coma. You did that," Daniel said as calmly as possible. "But you might be able to help her, and she would be eternally grateful for it. How can we help her, how can you save her?"

This statement only reduced Claire to tears. "I didn't mean to hurt her!" she moaned forlornly. "I just wanted my friend back!"

He took another tenuous step towards her, hoping Lewicki had called in the Feds by now. He could deal with his own crazy in measured doses, but dealing with someone else's was a different issue altogether. It was only then that he saw the gun.

"Claire, Claire, listen to me, you can fix this. You have the power to fix it, right now. It's your drug, which means you know how it works. I can give you my phone and you can call the hospital and tell them how to save her."

She shook her head, collecting herself. "No. No I won't do it. Kate's going to die, and then we can be friends again," she said, pulling the gun out of her back pocket in one quick movement. Daniel pulled back, hands raised, and wondered if he'd ever sounded _this crazy _before. His condition suddenly seemed like a walk in the park.

"Think about this Claire, do you think Kate wants to die? She has a job she loves, a father who counts on her, friends that love her, need her," he tried desperately.

Claire's hand shook with the weight of her gun and her decision. "You're just saying this so you can have her! You always wanted her! Just admit it!" she shouted, voice reverberating off the nearby walls.

It was just the two of them, and for the first time he'd have to cop to what he'd felt all these years. Confessing his feelings for Kate to a crazy former student obsessed with her friendship wasn't exactly the way he planned admitting them. It wasn't ideal, but he'd do anything for Kate's survival.

"You're right," he said dejectedly. "I've wanted her since I saw her in my class. I'm in love with her," Daniel shrugged helplessly. "But I don't tell her that. I can't saddle her with my condition. That would be too much to ask. Just like you're asking too much of her. You can't take her with you Claire, that's against her will and you know it."

The gun wavered in the air. He pleaded to any entity that may exist in the big blue sky to help him out, give him the answer.

Claire's gun hand dropped to her side. Out of her front pocket she pulled out a small clear vial, staring at it like it would bite her. "You'll tell her I saved her, right Professor Pierce? You'll tell her I didn't mean to hurt her, that I just wanted to be her friend again?"

"I will, Claire. I promise you I will," Daniel whispered tiredly. The last two and half days had worn on his soul, and he just wanted it all to be over. Claire set the vial on the table behind her.

He closed his eyes, heaved a sigh of relief. He'd only negotiated his way out of a bad situation once before, talking the son of a farmer who'd wanted to get his own message across by blowing up his enemies parents had been taxing enough. This was personal. This was worse.

The click of the gun safety being turned off had his eyes flying open. Had his reaction time been faster, less relaxed, he probably could have stopped her. As it was, the shot was off before he could even blink, and she was falling, falling, and gone.

The Angel of Death hallucination, he saw, was staring down at her, nodding.

He heard the ringing in his ears, as time slowed down dramatically. He felt his knees give, sinking into the damp earth. All he could do was stare at the body of his former student, one who'd been bright, eager, if misguided. He berated himself for not noticing the signs then, all those years ago, all the hints in her clothes and her work and even her speech. She so desperately tried to live other people's lives she'd never stopped to live her own.

In the end, the loneliness won.

Daniel saw bright flashes of light in his peripheral; people ran towards him. He heard nothing but their conversation on repeat.

Probert was saying something into a radio while Donnie looked shell shocked by the scene before him. Lewicki ran up to them both, trying to explain what he'd found and what Daniel had told him.

The ringing in his ears intensified, and he looked down, understanding now that the ringing was coming from the cell phone. Kate's phone.

"Dad" flashed on the caller ID, and he knew it was Joe Moretti. The Angel hadn't yet vanished; she was, in fact, pointing at the vial. Finally shaking himself out of his stupor, he stood unsteadily, stepping over Claire's body to grasp the small, unassuming vial she's set on the table.

He turned, addressing the three men before him with the still ringing phone clenched in his hand.

"I need to get to the hospital, now. I have to save Kate."


	3. Solace

**A/N:** Part 3, the end! I don't mean to make Kate's dad sound rude, but we don't know how much he knows or how he feels about Daniel, so again, I'm winging it. May be a little OOC later on. I was hoping for more reviews for this, pretty please with sugar on top? Lyrics are "The Story," by Brandi Carlile.

**Evolution**

_You see the smile that's on my mouth_

_It's hiding the words that don't come out_

_And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed_

_They don't know my head is a mess_

_No, they don't know who I really am_

_And they don't know what I've been through like you do_

_And I was made for you..._

The ride back to the hospital was swift and silent, as if the occupants were too afraid to speak.

Lewicki had answered the ringing phone that Daniel held. Joe Moretti informed him that Kate had had another seizure. Daniel barely heard him, twisting the small vial in his palm, running the events of the day's prior through his battered mind. So much happened in such little time.

"Do you understand now?" Hallucination Kate asked quietly, sitting in the backseat next to him, wearing a stark white hospital gown. He shook his head wearily, if just for the fact that he'd dealt with two different iterations of Kate already. Responding to her would only further the level of crazy Donnie and Probert assumed he was. "I won't be around forever. Eventually, something will happen to me, and I'll be gone, and you'll be alone with your regret. Death doesn't have to be the thing that separates us, Daniel. What if I meet someone? What if my job takes me far away? I want to be with you, but I won't wait forever. Don't you think I've waited long enough?"

He exhaled a long breath, placing his forehead against the cool windowpane. He had a lot to atone for, that much he was sure. He'd spent so long concerned about what other people thought of him, of what they'd think of Kate that he tossed opportunity out the door and slammed it shut. It wasn't that he was afraid of commitment, per say; it was the women he'd dated that feared commitment to him. They couldn't bring themselves to cope with a man who spoke to himself more than them. Kate had witnessed him speaking with Natalie on multiple occasions, despite his trying to shield her from it. She'd never seemed jealous of the figment he created until it morphed into the very real Caroline Newsome.

The tension between the two women should have been red flag enough for him. He almost laughed at the prospect of the two coming to blows over him.

"We're here, Doc," Lewicki said, nudging his shoulder. After this fiasco, Lewicki knew there'd have to be some serious damage control. The Doc was spiraling, whether or not he wanted to admit it. It was one thing having Kate in the hospital in a coma, but watching a former student kill herself in front of him wouldn't be something easily forgotten. He'd already put in a call to Dr. Rosenthal and would take no protest from Daniel.

Daniel unbuckled the seat belt, feeling sluggish and hollow. It felt like he was trudging through water, every movement a mountain to cross. He probably never would have made it up Kilimanjaro after all.

Probert told them to keep him updated, that he had to get back to the scene for processing, and left as solemn as he'd come.

XOX

They all rode the elevator up, tension mounting in the cart. Words boiled in the mouths of each of the three passengers, wanting so badly to be said but too worried to spill the contents.

The ding that signaled their arrival heaved a collective sigh. They couldn't get out fast enough.

Daniel felt the whiplash of whirlwind activity and voices the moment he stepped out of the doors. The reception nurse, Pamela, was answering phones and paging doctors; other nurses flew in and out of Kate's room in rapid succession, followed by a white faced Joe Moretti.

Donnie caught up to Joe, demanding to know what was going on. Joe just shook his head, lost and confused over the chaos.

Daniel braced himself, pushing through the crowd towards Kate's room with a renewed passion. She would not die because he was too late, there was no way. "I need a doctor, I need a doctor to give this to her now," Daniel called over the noise, searching for the woman that had informed him twice of what was going on. The doctor looked up, recognizing him.

"Dr. Pierce, what is that?" She asked, taking the vial from him tentatively.

"The girl that did this, she said it was the cure," Daniel said quickly.

"What is it exactly?" She elaborated. Daniel paused. He didn't even know.

"I'm not entirely sure." She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "It's all I've got," he answered her anxiously.

"No!" Joe Moretti called behind him. "You will not pump my daughter with something that might kill her!" The pale man was now red faced and angry.

"If we don't do this she's going to die anyway," Daniel snapped. "Besides, it's my say."

"What? How is this _your_ say?" Joe demanded darkly. "She's _my_ daughter!"

"Because I'm her power of attorney," he replied impassively. The doctor that held the vial sighed, uncapping it and inserting a needle into the top.

"But you're crazy? Why would she pick you?" Joe laughed, but there was nothing funny about it.

Lewicki looked like he was ready to jump on the defense, but Daniel held up his hand, exhausted. "When she wakes up, ask her yourself."

At his request, and confirmation from Pamela that yes, he was in fact her power of attorney, the doctor (Amy Stiles, as he finally heard her introduce herself) inserted the needle into Kate's arm, pushing the clear liquid into her bloodstream.

All they could do was wait.

XOX

It was hour's later, head bobbing heavy with sleep that he saw it. It was just a twitch, a flicker of movement, but it was there. Her small fingers gripped his reflexively, and he watched her eyes move steadily back and forth beneath pale eyelids.

He smiled to himself. Claire hadn't been lying.

Daniel gently squeezed back, and was surprised to see her brown eyes open after three days of sleep. Her forehead scrunched together, trying to assess where she was and why she was there. The 'pip' of the heart monitor started to skyrocket as the confusion set in.

He hushed her softly, rubbing endless circles on the top of her hand.

Her eyes fell closed again before she realized it was Daniel by her side.

XOX

"She seems to be getting better," Dr. Stiles said, relieved. "Whatever was in the vial did the trick, though we'd very much like to know what it was, I won't discount a miraculous recovery when I get one."

Lewicki gave a small fist pump; Donnie nodded and Joe Moretti ran a hand through his receding hairline. It was the first good news they'd gotten in a week.

"She's awake now, if you'd like to see her," Stiles threw in with a wink. If every woman had four men catering to her and falling over each other, then the world was in a good place.

Joe and Donnie headed in immediately, Lewicki hot on their heels. Daniel hung back, lingering along the wall. He wanted to talk to her alone, no interruptions. Now was not the time or the place. There was too much he needed to tell her; about what had happened and what he felt.

He slipped out before anyone could notice.

"Daniel, what do you think you're doing?" Natalie berated as he poked the elevator down button with a gloved hand. "She's finally awake and you're leaving?"

"I can't, Natalie, not right now. I don't want to talk about it," he managed to say forcefully. She gave him a reproachful look.

"If you leave now you won't come back," she said earnestly. "You know that. You'll bury your head in the sand and forget the past three days happened. But she won't, and Lewicki won't, and she'll have questions only you can answer for her!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Daniel seethed. "I just…there's something I have to do first, okay?"

The elevator doors slid open, and he hopped in, trying to ignore the disappointed expression on his friend's face.

XOX

Kate felt a tiredness she never had before, even as her three visitors cajoled and entertained her. Her father and Donnie even seemed to attempt to get along for her benefit despite their abject differences. Lewicki commented that she looked better, and she knew it for what it was: a lie.

The kind nurse at the reception desk had snuck her a mirror and some makeup before the parade had started, but her image was enough to make herself wince. Purple rings outlined her dark eyes; her hair was long past the acceptable limits of 'bed head chic'; she was sallow and weak, and she was surprised three days of nothing but sleep could actually do that to a person.

She was also keenly aware of the absence of a certain someone in her room. She'd caught Lewicki's hesitant gaze the moment he walked in, bringing up the rear of the train. Her eyes asked him where Daniel was, and his said he didn't know.

Kate couldn't lie; even as her father and Donnie and Max scrambled over the other to speak, she felt the hurt of his disappearance deep in her core. He'd been there before; she could sense it like a missing appendage. He'd held her hand, whispered to her through it all. He was probably decompressing, she told herself.

Three days without a routine, three days without a talk with her to keep him going, keep his mind active, had probably thrown a clear wrench in his mind.

She just hoped he'd come back to her soon.

XOX

Long after the sun set and her visitors had left for the evening, Daniel nervously peered through the door, rocking back on the balls of his feet, not wanting to disturb her if she was asleep. She kept her wide eyes on the book she was reading, and he watched her eyelids flutter madly before she'd jerk herself awake again.

His heart sunk; she was waiting for him.

"Kate?" he asked warily from the doorway.

Her head whipped around, and the dazzling smile that accompanied it made him feel a bit better for causing her a sleepless evening.

"Daniel," she said warmly. "I was wondering when you'd be by."

He could hear the fear in her voice. She didn't think he'd come. He smiled back wanly. "Sorry about not coming in earlier. I wanted to speak with you without an audience. I didn't mean to hurt you."

She grimaced. Apparently he was better at reading her than she thought. That, or being comatose for three days had thrown her off her game. She shrugged half-heartedly. "It's okay Daniel. I figured you needed some time to cope."

He shook his head, moving into the room and taking the seat he'd claimed the last few days. "No, it's not okay. I freaked out, a little bit, I won't lie, but I should have stayed for you." He swallowed thickly, searching for the least invasive topic to begin with on his list. That was harder to do with her staring so intently at him. He said the first thing that came to his mind. "Why did you change your power of attorney?"

The smile on her face fell and she averted her eyes, blushing profusely. She hesitated a moment, searching for the words. "I had a lot of reasons," she began slowly. "Donnie and I were already on our way to divorce and it just seemed weird to keep him as the person that would dictate my dying wish when I could barely trust him to not sleep with my friends. When I went to the lawyer to change it, initially I thought about making my dad my power of attorney, but I realized my dad would be a wreck if something devastating happened, and he'd more likely be at the bar discussing good times than making a life altering decision. When the lawyer gave me the pen the only name I could think of was you. I mean, you're my best friend, my mentor. I trust you completely, Daniel, and if it came down to it, you know the mind better than anyone, and I would trust you to make the right call."

"I have to say, having to make the right call doesn't make you many friends," Daniel tried to lighten the mood on a joke. "Neither your ex nor you father are happy you changed your policy to one where their will couldn't override the crazy man's."

"Why do you think I made it like that?" she questioned rhetorically with a glint in her eye. He sighed.

"But you changed it while I was in Rexford."

She shrugged once more. "So what, Daniel? I'm a big girl, I made my decision and that's that. I don't care where you were when I made it. The fact of the matter is that I value your opinion, in a life or death situation."

He caved under the weight of her doe eyes, knowing he'd lost the battle for now. He'd never understand what he did to deserve someone like her, but he hoped he never had to live without Kate Moretti again, even if it was only three days.

"They told me some of what happened," she said quietly, concern evident in her tone. "I remember her, you know. She was always…needy, somehow, like she relied on my opinion to function?"

"Dependent Personality Disorder," Daniel rattled off. "I should have seen the signs back when you and she were in school."

"That's not fair and you know it. It's easy for them to hide; it comes off like a little sister copying her big sister. It's almost flattering until it becomes an irritation. Even if you hadn't told me what she was doing, our friendship would have come to an inevitable end anyways," Kate chastised, trying to assuage his guilt. "My only question is what made her fixate on me again?"

"Probert went through her apartment; I think the trigger was your picture in an article with me after we closed a case a few months ago. It probably brought back all the memories from school, and just snowballed from there," Daniel said succinctly.

"The injection was meant for me," he added distantly.

"And if she'd gotten her aim right, you'd be dead," Kate whispered sadly. "You can't take the blame for one girl with a mental illness, Daniel. She made her own decisions. I'm just sorry you had to witness her death by yourself."

Daniel ran his hands over his face. "I was more concerned with yours."

"I know," she said, the shy smile taking over her face. "My dad said you really took charge of the situation."

"If by 'took charge' you meant 'commandeered your health and basically used you as a guinea pig for an untested drug' then yes, I took charge," Daniel laughed. Kate shook her head, laughing as well. "I brought you something," he said lightly, procuring his messenger bag from the ground.

He opened the flap, pulled out a paper bag splotched with grease and set it before her. "I know it's not exactly classy or expensive or even nice, but I figured we could still have dinner."

Her bright smile was enough for him, and he could see tears pooling in her eyes before she bit them back, reaching into the bag for one very greasy cheeseburger for herself, and a garden burger for him.

"Thank God, I'm starving. You should have seen what they tried to feed me earlier," she said with a mixture of relief and disgust.

"Don't even get me started on what hospital food actually is…" Daniel began, unwrapping the garden burger tediously.

Kate laughed, biting into the gigantic cheeseburger before her. Their banter continued long past cheeseburgers and health decisions, into the small morning hours before she finally collapsed, too exhausted to laugh anymore, and he held her hand, keeping watch a little longer.

XOX

"You really don't have to do this you know," Kate pleaded. "I'm _fine_, all the doctors said so. Claire's drug is completely out of my system, and so is the cure. I don't think you need to get yourself all worked up over this."

"Just humor the crazy guy, will you?" Daniel appealed to her softer side. She was really too independent for her own good sometimes, he decided, as he had Lewicki make up the guest bedroom. They'd been arguing over her living arrangements for days. He wanted to keep an eye on her, and she wanted to return to her life. "Just stay, for a little while, please? It will make me feel better."

She huffed, knowing she couldn't say no when he made it sound like that. He knew she was better. He'd been by her side the entire time she was in the hospital despite the initial bump in the road, and now the mere thought of her being away from him caused a minor panic attack. He was petrified of losing her…again. Conveying that to her was too much for him, so he coerced her into staying with them just until he was sure she was fine.

"Alright, I'll stay. But don't you have a class to go teach?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest primly. He glanced at his watch.

"Lewicki!" he yelled. Kate shook her head. This was going to be interesting.

And it was.

Kate found that falling into a routine with Daniel and Lewicki wasn't as hard as she'd initially thought, and she nearly forgot she had her own apartment waiting for her. She was comfortable, and she and Daniel were closer than ever.

She left her cat with her father temporarily, leaving as little detail possible of staying with Daniel out as she could, not that he minded. The evening she went to retrieve more clothes for work, the realization that she was now basically living with them struck her hard.

Her once restful apartment that afforded her solitude and a place to decompress now felt empty and terribly lonely, and she feared having to return to it. She understood why Daniel asked her to stay with him after she was released from the hospital; being with someone constantly and then having that companionship taken away was heart wrenching.

She returned to Daniel's house that night off balance and unfathomably upset. Not even the nightly ribbing between Daniel and Lewicki, or discussing one of their cases, could quell her agitation. If they noticed, they made no comment.

She was halfway up the stairs when Lewicki pulled her to the side. "Can we talk for a minute?" the graduate asked vaguely. She nodded, hoping she hadn't affected Daniel's routine or something to that err. He was smiling curiously, like she was keeping a secret and he didn't know what it was.

"What's this about Max?"

"You realize the Doc hasn't talked to Natalie since you left the hospital?" he asked, but she could tell it wasn't a question. She shook her head. "After everything, with you and Claire, I had this vision of Rexford again," he began quietly. "But he seems…okay? He's sticking to his routine, he's actually learning his student's names, he _thanked_ me for making his breakfast, twice, this week alone."

She opened her mouth, closed it again, and then finally managed the words she was looking for. "I don't want to leave," she whispered imploringly.

Lewicki chuckled. "Don't tell me, tell him."

He left her with her thoughts and his words in the stairwell.

XOX

She changed into leggings and an oversized gray tank top, her pajamas of choice, before padding down the stairs to Daniel's office. The light from the lamps trickled out across the floorboards comfortingly.

The soft sounds of Mozart filtered from the study and she could picture him working on one of his crosswords. Lewicki was right; she hadn't caught him gesturing at the walls or an empty chair or sofa since before she was hospitalized. She wondered if the hallucinations in the hospital had anything to do with it; Lewicki and Nurse Pamela had filled her in. From what she could gather, he'd talked primarily to some incarnation of her.

Kate approached the office, knocking gently on the wood paneled archway. Daniel looked up, his black rimmed glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. "Kate? I thought you were asleep."

She shook her head. "Can't sleep."

He waved her in. "Want a Sudoku?" he asked cheekily.

She took the chair adjacent to his desk, pulling her knees up like a child. "No I'm good. I actually wanted to…to talk, if that was alright?"

He sat back, pulling his glasses off. Something to keep his hands busy, she knew. "What's on your mind?"

"Well you just sounded like my teacher for a minute there," she said laughingly, recalling their many office hour discussions when she was an undergrad. Those had been some of her best memories. He was the one person she could go to with a problem and he'd listen and let her sort it out inevitably by herself. He grinned, fidgeting with his frames.

"Force of habit," he answered by way of reasoning. In truth it was easy slipping into those old habits of teacher and student, even though he knew he didn't have to think of her that way. She was a fully grown woman, no longer the awkward, soul searching undergrad.

She bit her lip nervously. "I don't want to go," Kate said quickly, trying to get the words out in a rush.

Daniel looked puzzled. "Go where?" he asked incredulously.

"Back to my apartment," she finished almost inaudibly.

"No one is making you leave, Kate," Daniel said with a shrug. Clearly he wasn't getting what she was getting at.

"I…I like it here, with you," she tried more directly. Her words seemed to fall, as always, on deaf ears. Well he always said human behavior eluded him. "I like…this…us," Kate finished carefully, wary of his heavily weighted towards flight complex.

Daniel thought of what Claire Sanders had said to him in the quad no more than two weeks ago. _"You always wanted her! Just admit it!" _

And of all the times Natalie had pushed him towards her. Hell, even his "case based hallucinations" called him out on it.

He never came this close to losing her before, despite the distance in miles between them, the number of two story buildings she leapt from or bullets she would try to take. Not even in his worst delirium could he conjure something so horrible.

"Your nickname for the first week of class was The Pretty Girl In The Front Row," he said softly, out of the blue. She tilted her head, eyeing him strangely.

"I don't understand?"

"You were different, Kate. You weren't there for a credit or to hit on me or to get a look at the nutjob professor they hired. You were this beautiful, curious, intelligent freshman girl who actually wanted to learn! That's so rare, anymore. I thought you'd be just another pretty face and you genuinely surprised me. Our meetings after class were a godsend; I didn't have anybody then, to help me, and you did without ever knowing. I made it a point to learn your name, and who you were and who you wanted to be. I don't…I don't just do that," he paused, taking a breath. "You have to know that much by now?"

"You can say it Daniel," Kate smiled encouragingly. "It's not like I don't feel the same."

"But once it's said, it's said. It can't be taken back after that, Kate. I can't deal with it being a mistake," he whispered sullenly.

She stood up resolutely, holding a hand out towards him. He took it after a moment's hesitation, standing next to her. She looped her free arm around his shoulders, standing on tiptoes to reach; he released the hand he held and wrapped his arms are her in return, pulling her gently to him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd hugged someone so fiercely as he splayed his hands across her slim back.

She pulled back slightly, just enough to lean her forehead against his. "I love you, you know?" she said, a few tears trailing over her cheeks, resting on his as they marked their path. He pulled her a little tighter to him then.

"I love you, Kate Moretti," he answered back, earning a few more tears for his effort. She moved her hands from his shoulders to his face, running her thumbs over his stubbled jaw before pulling him down to her and finally sealing that confession with everything she had in her.

The kiss she tried to keep tender and sweet turned heated before she could slow it down, and then she didn't want too. He wasn't, she realized, letting her go anytime soon. They tripped and stumbled and laughed their way up the stairs before reaching their destination, and she couldn't help but think of all the events that led to this very moment, and how grateful she was for every one of them, good and bad.

He halted their progress in the doorway of his room, holding her gently against the beams, eyes searching. "Stay?" he asked finally.

"Okay," she easily agreed.

It wouldn't always be easy, they both knew, and explaining everything to Lewicki in the morning would certainly be noteworthy. Natalie still made her appearances, though they were brief and infrequent, and they would always work Kate's cases. Lewicki would finally graduate and become a professor himself, leaving the two to live their own life together. It would take her father a long time to come around, and Donnie would never stop harassing Daniel if just because he could. Small notions along the way would change minds though; things like permission and rings, near death experiences and talk of children in the crazy world they lived in.

Maybe they were both insane after all.

Maybe that was okay.


End file.
